DARREN O’DEA has been released by Celtic, paving the way for the Republic of Ireland defender to move to another club on a free transfer, something that should greatly increase his options over the summer months.

The Dubliner’s current deal with the SPL champions was only due to run until the end of the season just finished but the club did have the option of extending by a year, something that would commonly be done even if the player didn’t feature in the manager’s plans in order to oblige rivals to pay a fee.

O’Dea acknowledged last week that the Scots would be entitled to seek to recoup some of the money they had spent on developing him as a player but he expressed the hope they might still allow him to simply walk away, something that would improve both his choices and, most likely, improve the personal terms he would be able to negotiate. Yesterday he confirmed he had received the news he had been hoping for.

“Yeah, I won’t be at Celtic,” he said. “I’m leaving Celtic on a free transfer. I’m very happy. I spoke to Peter Lawwell and fair play to him, I’ve been leaving long enough and it was about time it was official.

“It was playing on my mind but fair play to Peter for cutting ties. It lets me get on with my career. It’s been happening for the last two and a half years anyway.”

The 25-year-old signed for Celtic from Home Farm seven years ago and initially made swift progress, breaking into the first team in late 2006 and then impressing in both the league and Champions League over the course of the next season and a half.

Somehow, though, he never progressed to the stage where he was an automatic first choice and despite captaining the team at times, he was loaned out in recent years for spells to Reading, Ipswich Town and most recently Leeds United.

After Neil Warnock made it clear that he wasn’t in his plans for the Elland Road outfit O’Dea faced the prospect of having to head back to Glasgow for pre-season while attempting to secure an alternative employer. Instead, he leaves, he says, on the best of terms.

“I’ve had a great time at Celtic and have a lot of friends there so it was important for me that I left properly. He’s done that and given me the chance to do that so I’ve nothing but admiration for the club and I wish them all the best.”